Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Best Movies of 2011

Here's Swaggers last "Best of 2011" posts:

Let me say right now that I don't get out to movies much. My kids would say that RIO and Rango topped the chart. And I totally didn't see H.P. First one I didn't see in the theater (my priorities have changed a bit). I also had no intention of going anywhere near Breaking Dawn.

For me in 2011, the movie highlights were The Help and The Muppets. The screen adaptation of The Help was so true to the book and well done. And really it didn't get any better for me than a comeback by my favorite gang of weirdos in The Muppets movie. Bringing "The Rainbow Connection" to a new generation was priceless for me (especially when my three-year-old left the theatre singing "Mahna Mahna").

But now that it's 2012, I have to say I'm planning on making time to watch Hunger Games.

What movies inspired you in 2011? Which ones are you looking forward to seeing in 2012?

Thanks for helping us hit the triple digits. Swagger with us!

About Us

Three years ago we signed up to attend a Highlights Foundation workshop: “Writing the YA Novel.” Author Rich Wallace was the workshop moderator.
We met at the old Boyds Mills’ farmhouse: writing, talking, sharing, reading, crying, supporting, dining on Marcia’s gourmet meals. And yes, there was drinking involved. Somehow this diverse group jelled. And two years later, on October 2nd, 2011, eight of us returned for a reunion at the new “Barn” and decided to launch Swagger. A year later, six of us remain:
The former Australian footy player working on a memoir -
The Tuscan picture book author working on a memoir -
The mother, wife, and grandmother, from Cincinnati, working on a compilation of MG holiday stories -
The Denver author working on her follow-up novel -
The former prosecutor from Cleveland determined to publish her MG fantasy -
The established MG & YA author from New Hampshire -
We are Swagger – Writers with Attitude!

The Swagger Family

Celebrating our second reunion at the Egan homestead.

Where I'm From

During the first Swagger reunion, we were inspired by George Ella Lyon to write our own “Where I'm From” poems that appear on our individual pages. George Ella is a writer and teacher. Her website: http://www.georgeellalyon.com/about.html talks in greater detail about this telling poem, encouraging other writers to embrace its versatile format.